Rod and Magella

We adopted Myia when she was about 3 months old from the old Richmond BC SPCA way back in 2002, as a runt of the litter she was always shy of strangers and changes in ‘her’ world. She lived 12 and a bit years with no health problems till late 2014 when we noticed she would not “speak/bark” once for a treat after a day of being good. We took her to our vet at Oak Animal Hospital to have a check on her throat. At first it turned out to be a case of just getting to be a old pup. Another month passed and we took her to the vet again, sadly we found out a huge lump was growing just below her throat which was causing her to not be able to bark. We tried everything… We took her to the West Coast Veterinary Clinic for a CT Scan, blood work,Xrays and such to see if there was anything we could do. At just over 12 years we were told that there was nothing that even West Coast Vet Clinic could do. After a week passed on the bad news, even out own Vet Dr. Dillon again at Oak Animal hospital offered to do another ultrasound to see if there was a way to drain this “Lump” he said if he could.. Then he would charge for the ultrasound. Sadly we received the call from Dr. Dillon saying that “We should just enjoy the time we had left with Myia.” There was nothing he could do… If he attempted to do anything it would of killed her earlier. We were heart broken…. we were lost. Here was this still playful pup not showing any signs of pain wanting to live but there was nothing we could do to stop this stupid lump from growing.

A couple months went by and we started to notice a few issues going on with our Myia… She couldn’t play as much, she seemed almost depressed. We took her to the vet again for more X-rays. The lump was now pushing on her left lung. We were rapidly running out of ideas.. from what the Vet said.. She still was not showing any kind of pain. That is when we found out from another dog owner about Kai! We knew that there was not going to be a “miracle” cure for Myia. But we were open to anything… From the first visit… I’ll admit I was kind of sceptical of the whole Reiki and Massage bit for pets.

Kai and Myia never met! Myia loved a nightly ritual… Myia’s ritual was to jump onto our bed,roll around on her back/play and then jump back off to crawl under the bed until the morning after. When we got up… Myia would crawl out from under the bed jump back up and wait for her morning walk. That was until she got sick and could no longer jump on the bed at night or the morning. When we fist met Kai… She had no idea of what Myia’s nightly routine involving rolling around in the night or in the morning. We had the bedroom door closed on Kai’s first visit. Kai did her work with Myia and at the very end… Kai had said that “Myia misses her white blanket!” I was stunned! Only myself , Magella and Myia would of known about the daily/nightly routine with the white blanket. From there on we had Kai drop by for weekly visits to Myia. Sure Myia would do a little woof each week that Kai would arrive. But in the end… Myia loved it and so did Kai.

Each week for the next two months Magella and I could see Myia’s health deteriorating. We knew this was not some miracle cure… We just wanted Myia to not suffer. We decided that there would be no suffering. We took Myia each week to the Vet just to make sure. We could also easily see that after each week of Kai visiting Myia, Myia would have lots of energy for a few days. After each visit with Kai, Myia would eat a little and even try things… Myia even tried to get up on the bed on her own after one visit.

Now comes Kai’s last visit…. Myia took to the Reiki very well for the last few weeks of her life. It really did add energy to her life. But that damn lump grew in her chest and fast. Myia took a huge turn for the worst. Over the course of the start to the finish was just 36 hours! We had a last visit with Kai and Myia.. Kai had said that “Myia was ready to go, but was waiting for something.” Myia wasn’t in pain.. but just waiting for something.

Between Magella and I, we tried everything… We whispered in Myia’s ear “that it was alright”, We bundled her up and took her to her favourite tree at her favourite park. Myia’s last two days she could not even walk on her own. We finally booked her to be put down with no suffering a day later. Night one Magella and I brought Myia under the bed where she slept each night since she was a puppy. We even put the bed on blocks to help her. She crawled out on her own in the middle of the night with minimal strength. Then came the second night of March 7th into the morning of the 8th. We let her sleep on her White blanket on the floor beside the bed, Magella and I woke to some whimpering. We picked Myia up in the blanket and laid her between us for the night which is where she passed away between us. That was what we feel that Myia wanted all along for her final night.